I examined the night sky and decided it was time to head back to the Stronghold where we were spending the night. The sun would start to rise shortly and I usually didn't stay out this late when I planned to sneak over the fence.

I still managed that feat undetected. This place boasted a wooden palisade so the sentries weren't that alert. None of them had noticed the coil of rope that dropped to the ground outside. A feral wouldn't think to use a plain rope to scale the vertical wall so it had been safe to leave it dangling. If anyone had found it and pulled it up, I could have used a spare coil in my backpack to lasso the top of a post and climb up.

I did a double take as I saw movement in the back of our truck. To my immense surprise, Nicky was already sitting there. A quick sniff made me growl faintly as I changed my direction to head toward her.

"What are you doing out here in the dark?"

Nicky jumped a bit as I surprised her but shrugged, "I got tired of Nina's complaining and Daniel threatened to toss me outside if I didn't stop singing. I didn't feel like being gagged today, so I decided to come out here."

I sighed heavily, at least she had some sense of self preservation. Although considering how she was passing the time, that was up for debate as well. I shook my head, "I am going to go let Daniel know I am back and inside the fence." I slipped silently into the shadows.

~

Daniel's eyes narrowed as he approached the truck. He shot me an accusing look as I approached from a different direction. I shrugged, "I said that I was back, not that I was going to sit in the truck. I have already spent far too much time in that thing."

Nicky turned to grin at Daniel as she lifted up his previously white shirt, "In my defense, I was left unsupervised."

He growled at her and Nina patted him on the arm in sympathy, "You knew it was probably going to happen when you packed it and it did keep her away from your shoes."

He huffed, "I was wearing my shoes. And I am certainly not going to be wearing that shirt now."

Nicky looked at him with disbelief, "But it matches Nina's socks!"

I tilted my head as I went forward for a better look at the shirt that Nicky hadn't quite finished coloring yet. The blues, purples and pinks did indeed have the same pattern, but something else had caught my eye.

I smirked before chuckling and commenting to Daniel, "You should wear it if only for the fact that her purple and blue markers are obviously wearing out."

That caught his interest and he took a second look at the shirt as Nicky scowled at me for my revelation. The one sleeve was quite faded despite the fact that Nicky would have tried her best to make the colors vivid. Another shirt or two and she would have no more working markers at all.

Daniel got into the driver's seat while shaking his head in aggravation. I sighed before climbing into the truck. John and Logan also took their respective corners as Nicky was still trying to finish coloring Daniel's shirt with markers that were barely leaving marks.

Daniel started the truck and slowly drove toward the gate. Nina dug around in the travel bag she had left in the cab before whirling around and glaring fiercely at Nicky through the window, "You did not!"

Nicky shrugged as she kept coloring, "I prefer your statement over the truth."

Daniel glanced over, "What did she do this time?"

Nina actually turned a bit red, "She put a pair of rather brightly colored underwear in here."

Nicky grinned, "I dare you to hold them up."

Nina frowned at Nicky, "I certainly will not."

Nicky chuckled, "At the very least you should recognize them."

Nina gritted her teeth and refused to answer. Daniel looked mystified at their discussion, but clearly was not about to enter this discussion about female underwear. John looked a bit uncomfortable at the topic. Logan was studiously ignoring them as he gazed toward the gate.

I turned my head to observe the faintly pink clouds overhead in an attempt to avoid being brought into this conversation. The sunrise was likely quite spectacular toward the east, but my eyes couldn't handle looking toward the sun.

A tap on my shoe made me growl faintly as I looked away from the clouds and toward Nicky. Nicky tilted her head as she grinned at me, "Don't you want to know what I did?"

"Not really."

My wish was not granted. "Remember those clothes that Nina and Daniel dyed pink on me? Well when we came back from burning them I realized that I had missed a pair of underwear. I put them where I wouldn't see them, but that just so happened to be behind my sleeping bag. I couldn't find a pair of bright orange lacy panties to stick in her bag so I had to improvise. Nina had just been so kind as to provide me with them too!"

That was an odd twist on Nicky's attempt to get revenge and was actually halfway amusing. Nina's plan had backfired on her in an entirely unforeseen manner. The look that Nina was currently sending Nicky spoke volumes. Nicky didn't see it as she continued coloring. It wasn't easy to annoy the easygoing scientist, but Nicky had really gotten under her skin with this stunt.

The truck was silent as we left the gate and once more headed down the highway. It wasn't more than ten minutes later before Nicky groaned, "These felts are so dead. I can't get anything more out of them. Sorry Daniel, but your one sleeve is about to have a makeover."

I heard him exhale heavily, but he didn't comment. He had probably already labeled that shirt as a lost cause. Nicky pulled out her other felts and made the blue lines transition into green, and then into yellow while the purple became red and then orange.

The one yellow and orange sleeve was quite a contrast to the purple and blue shirt. You can't forget those tiny bits of pink peeking out here and there...

Logan watched in curiosity as Nicky somehow made the colors flow smoothly into their new shades. He seemed impressed, "I have never seen something like that before. That is quite unique."

Nicky grinned at him, "My counselor said that I had a unique way of lighting up a room. Apparently it was called arson and she was called a witness."

Nicky once more enlightened us into another aspect of her past that was better left unknown for our peace of mind. Logan lacked a response and John was wisely keeping his mouth shut. Neither Nina nor Daniel commented upon this new discovery.

I turned my eyes toward the road in front of us.

~

I took a deeper breath to ensure I wasn't imagining things. The smell of blood made me growl. I was on my feet and had jumped off of the moving truck before anyone even really had time to register my unanticipated growl. My landing was rough, but my Nightstalker capabilities kept me from falling or taking serious injury as I hurtled myself off of the swiftly moving vehicle.

I ran toward the trees full tilt. The truck tires squealed as Daniel braked hard. I could hear the urgent calls as they tried to call me back while attempting to figure out why I had taken off like that. I tuned it out as my mind focused on the smell of blood. I knew that blood. I had smelled it before.

We were halfway between two Strongholds and there should not have been anyone out here. Especially this person. The wind had been blowing the smell toward the road and it wasn't that far. I slowed and my footsteps went silent as I got closer. The scents I was detecting were not lining up. At least the smell of blood wasn't any stronger, so I had more time than I had originally assumed.

It didn't surprise me to hear Daniel's footsteps moments later. I didn't come out of my half crouch, although I did slow down to allow the blundering idiot to catch up.

"Keep the noise down." My voice was soft, but I was pretty sure that Daniel would hear it even though he wasn't close enough to see me yet.

He must have heard me since his footsteps slowed and he tried to move more quietly. I had heard deer run more silently and my opinion of his skills sank like the Titanic. He was clearly in dire need of skulking practice.

"What are you doing?" Daniel was clearly confused.

I glanced back at him as he tried to sneak closer as quietly as he could. "Seriously? Use your nose. Even you should have no problem picking this up."

He sniffed and looked confused before narrowing his eyes. He peered in the upwind direction, "How close can we get without being spotted?"

I snorted faintly, "I can get extremely close. I am not so sure about your ninja skills though."

He growled a faint reprimand at the insult before replying, "Why don't you see if you can sneak in close and then I will just walk in? That way you can take them by surprise if you need to."

I nodded and silently slipped through the underbrush to work my way upwind of them. The underbrush was thick and I was almost on top of them before I could actually see what was going on. I watched silently as the rough looking man gently dabbed a damp cloth on Liz's skinned up knees as he cleaned away the blood and dirt.

I had never met or seen this man before. What is he doing out here? And why does he have Liz? I had carefully tested the air earlier, but Marissa was not in the area, nor had she touched Liz for days since I could pick up no trace of her afterscent.

I was close enough that I could smell that the man was infected with the airborne zombie virus. Footsteps started approaching and I knew that it was Daniel. My hearing was better than theirs, so it took them a bit to realize that they had company.

The man jumped to his feet and nocked an arrow on his bow. Interestingly enough, Liz hid behind him. Then she sneezed. I had a pretty good idea why these two were not in a Stronghold, but I remained in hiding to see how they would handle Daniel's appearance.

Daniel rounded a corner and came into view. The man raised his bow to point it at Daniel. I resisted the urge to slap my forehead at Daniel's stupidity. His eyes were red to let the man know he was a zombie, but he had not spoken so the man had no way of knowing he wasn't feral.

I spoke quietly, "Speak you fool. He thinks you are a feral."

Daniel's eyes flashed bright red at that insult as his eyes flickered in my direction as he stopped walking. He visibly restrained from growling at me before focusing on the man again, "Hello."

The man looked completely surprised and plainly had no idea how to respond. Liz peeked out from around the man.

"Daniel!" She ran toward him with a squeal.

"Liz!" The man desperately called her name, but didn't have a chance to catch her since his hands were full with a drawn bow, "You injure her and you are in big trouble." The man was clearly trying to protect her, although he was having terrible success at the moment. He also seemed to think that Daniel was just a Runner and not anything more dangerous.

Liz wrapped her arms around Daniel's legs as much as she could. Daniel made a face at the contact, but otherwise didn't react as he gently patted the child's back. The man had lowered his bow, although the arrow was still nocked on the string. He looked confused and somewhat bewildered that Liz would know a zombie by name and that the exact same zombie simply appeared in the middle of a forest.

I slipped silently out of the trees as I walked up behind the man, "Why don't you put that thing away before you injure someone?"

The poor man practically jumped out of his skin. I knew sneaking up behind him wasn't nice, but I really didn't care. I was a bit of a jerk in that fashion, although I could blame it on my Nightstalker instincts. He whirled around with eyes the size of saucers as he tried to comprehend how I had appeared out of thick underbrush that a rabbit would have been hard pressed to squeeze through.

"Trinity!" The little cannonball of energy released Daniel to run full tilt in my direction.

I sighed faintly, "Hello to you too Liz."

She slammed into my legs hard enough that she probably had bruises. The lack of enthusiasm in my voice had not impacted her excitement at seeing me once more. She clung to my leg like a paranoid koala in a thunderstorm. I looked down at her as I gently patted her back, at a loss as to what I was supposed to. I never had been very good with children.

My instincts didn't like the contact, but it was easier now than it had been when I had also been fighting against my bloodlust. How do I get this child off of my leg? She is the human equivalent of a human suction cup... "You can let go now Liz."

Liz loosened her grip. She didn't completely let go, although it was still an improvement. I kept an eye on the worried looking man who held his bow loosely in one hand. Daniel had come closer and I wondered if the man was even aware that the first zombie was only about ten feet behind him now. He was going to be in for another heart attack the moment he turned around.

I looked back down, "Liz, where is Marissa? What are you doing out here?" As much as I didn't like that woman, it would have taken force to separate her from Liz.

Liz looked sad, "The Stronghold wouldn't let me in because we were sneezing. Something happened one night and she never came back in the morning."

I turned my head to regard the man, knowing that he would know more, "And just what are you doing out here with her? You are aware that you are infected, right?"

He looked surprised, "Yes, but- How-..."

I snorted lightly, "I can smell it from here. Now, what happened?"

He shook his head as he tried to recollect his thoughts. I doubted that this man handled surprises well and he was definitely struggling as we simply kept dropping figurative bombs on him. "The woman and the child were turned away from four or five Strongholds. Or so the woman said. The places were scared they were infected since they were sneezing. They were trying to get to some place where a friend of hers was. A Tom, or a Don, or something like that."

The guy sighed, "She said that when she got there that the place had been overrun. None of the neighboring Strongholds reported any survivors showing up at their doorstep. I was kicked out around that time since all of the animals started avoiding me. I offered to travel with her until I started sneezing. We made camp in a building about a week ago, but some zombies broke in. I managed to get Liz to safety, but when I came back it was too late for the woman."

I took a deep breath to test the air. He told the truth. I relaxed marginally, "I see." As much as I hated to have more company in that small truck, I knew it wasn't right to just leave them. It was also a given that Daniel wouldn't leave them here. I also wasn't sure that I could pry this little limpet off of my leg as I walked back to the truck...

I sighed heavily, "We have the cure back at the truck if you want to follow us."

That got the man's attention, "There is really a cure? The woman said that they had been researching one in the place she came from."

"Yes."

"I'll come. Thank you so much."

I nodded and turned to go, or attempted to. With a sigh I looked down at the small weight attached to my leg. She finally let go, only to hold her arms up to me, "Horse ride! Horsie!"

I growled faintly, much to the shock of the man, "I will carry you only if you promise to never call me horsie again. Deal?"

Liz wasn't at all bothered by my growl. "Okay!"

I doubted just how effective bargaining with a child was, but it had worked with Nicky... I gently picked her up before putting her on my shoulders as I had in the past. The man still looked shocked, "You are a zombie."

Much to my chagrin, Liz's head was level with his. He had to look down to look at my face. I rolled my eyes, unimpressed with his observation skills, "Good guess. Now let's get going."

He nodded in slow daze as he turned around. He jumped and almost fell backward as he realized that Daniel had gotten closer while he was distracted by me. That guy just wasn't getting a break today. Or well, considering he was getting the cure, he actually was. If he didn't die from heart failure first.

Daniel turned to head back the way he came at a slow walk. The man was still trying to recover from his latest fright. I shook my head and walked around him. The sooner I got to the truck, the sooner I could get this little monkey off my back.